


tastes better this way

by DameMond



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Fluff, M/M, extreme sugar dose of it, no beta we die like fools, post kh3, post the game so endgame spoilers beware
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 08:31:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17680004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DameMond/pseuds/DameMond
Summary: Despite our messy hearts and bodies and despite that we still have a lot to work on, there’s one thing I’ve got figured out for a good while now.





	tastes better this way

**Author's Note:**

> I finished KH3 and my brain finally decided to push me to write some shit because after years of pain and waiting I got to see Axel and Roxas back with their friends hugging and crying while I bawled my eyes out at their hug scene. Haven't cried that hard in years. Thanks for everything, kh3, I needed this and Axel getting flustered at Ven (can't believe it's canon, the dork) to live 50 years more. Now you’re stuck with me, fandom, hope you don’t come to regret it.
> 
> I always saw Axel with 20 and Roxas with 17 in canon so yeah, picture them that way. That's why I put aged-up Roxas, most people seem to think he's like 15 while I never did hahah.
> 
> Have a stupid, tooth-rotting Axel-centered piece with a crush on Roxas. Figured they could also use some fluff.

* * *

Axel wished he could stop keeping track of the hours he’d been eating ice cream up in the tower by himself before the War. He wished he could stop thinking about blue eyes and golden hair whenever he stared at the sunset ahead of him with the warmth of the sun crawling up his bare arms and helping him to relax. He wished–

 _Stop moping_ , he scolded himself, letting a sigh escape. _He’s fine, he’s back, he said he’d be up here in a bit and then you can talk. A proper talk that you both need._

And boy, did Axel need to talk. Except that sometimes when he looked at Roxas the urge to cry made an amazingly strong return along the annoying pressure in his chest, followed by whatever remained turning the gears in his head refusing to work anymore and he was left a literal bumbling mess. Roxas, bless him, only smiled at him like he understood and it was even worse than that time when Ventus outright _dared_ to give him that gentle smile at the Mysterious Tower and Axel literally stammered in front of everyone, including Yen Sid and the Keyblade Masters.

No, Ven did not let him live that one down. Yes, he ended up telling Roxas a few days after between giggles. _The little shit_.

Axel could only hope that Jiminy Pippet or whatever didn’t write that episode down or he was doomed to be made fun of for the rest of his existence.

“This seat taken?”

Axel got pulled out of his musings of different ways of getting rid of bugs by his favourite voice. The smile appeared involuntarily as he took in Roxas’ amused look while he stared down at Axel. He probably had arrived a few seconds ago and had caught Axel brooding.

“Nope. Free pass for you, and I think there’s enough space for five more.”

Roxas chuckled as he plopped himself down right next to his best friend, the redhead feeling the burn in his skin as Roxas’ shoulder brushed his. “Five of me or five more people? I thought you’d be fine with only two of us.”

Axel was more than ready to leap off the tower, but decided against it. Since when did Roxas become a tease? “Hardy har. One of you is enough for me to deal with, now more than ever. You two seem to be getting pretty close.”

Roxas nodded, staring ahead with a small smile. The warm breeze messed his hair a bit and Axel drank on the sight. “He’s been pretty fun to hang out with after getting over the whole awkward looking-the-same thingy, y’know? We talk about a lot of stuff.”

“Oh?” Axel raised an eyebrow, trying to sound as casual as possible. “Like what?”

Roxas glanced at him and shrugged, hiding a smile. “Casual shit, like how he likes to compare keyblades and would love to try wielding two like I do, how the Organization life was like, that he’d love to hang out with Xion and Naminé more or like when he met both you and Isa in Radiant Garden and you got your ass handed to you.”

Oh, now Axel _definitely_ wanted to fling himself off the tower. “So you basically gossip about me? I’m flattered, Roxy, didn’t know you had me so much in your mind.” The jab was unintentional, but if Axel was being honest, he wasn’t sorry in the slightest, especially seeing how Roxas went red in the face for a moment before he quickly recomposed himself. Axel didn’t miss it, but pretended not to notice.

“You wish, _Axy_ , but I won’t deny you’re our favourite running joke.”

“Okay, no, I’m someone to laugh _with_ , not _at,_  and Axy’s definitely off limits.”

“Aw,” if there was a fake pouting contest, Roxas would win all possible awards. “I thought I had best friend benefits.”

“It doesn’t include butchering my ex-name!”

“You just called me Roxy, asshat.”

“Yeah, but it’s cute. Axy just sounds weird. It’d be like calling Riku “ _Ricky”_ or something like that.”

They were laughing together at that point until Roxas doubled over with laughter at “Ricky” while holding his stomach. Axel’s own laugh grew louder at the sight and they ended up having tears in their eyes.

This was what Axel had missed the most: carefree, laughing at Roxas’s side while making fun of something stupid so he could get Roxas to smile. Axel never got tired of it back in the day, and now he could do it again. Again and again and again, every single remaining day of his life.

The sudden realization made him incredibly happy. _He had Roxas back_ , happy and laughing with him. Xion, too. He’d told her they’d meet up for ice cream the next day, but today he needed Roxas for himself for a little bit. It made all his worries of looking like an idiot in front of Roxas vanish. Man, was he out of practice with this whole talking thing after regaining his heart.

“I’ve missed this,” Axel blurted out without thinking, and suddenly he realized he’d probably spoiled the mood they’d been building, but Roxas only kept smiling and turned to look at him.

“Me too,” and he felt his skin burn at Roxas’ words. His face the most. “I’ve missed you a whole lot, Axel. You have no idea.” Axel wanted to talk, but let Roxas finish first, feeling the knot in his stomach tightening with each word. “I saw you _die_. I saw you blow yourself up for Sora’s sake after all that from within him, and I just… I was so angry I fought Sora. For you. And I lost.”

 _Ah_.

Roxas’ voice wavered and Axel felt his own arm wrapping around the young man’s shoulders, pulling him against his chest. It was almost a reflex: seeing Roxas sad always had him wanting to hold him close and pull him away from the world while setting aflame whatever had hurt the one he cared about the most. Roxas sighed against his chest, wrapping his arms around Axel’s waist. At least he wasn’t shaking. Axel wasn’t sure if remembering those days were the best thing to do at the moment while they were recovering. Maybe they could work on it as time passed by, now that they has Isa back as well. He’d have to apologize to both Roxas and Xion or Axel would smack the words out of him himself.

“It’s okay, Roxas, I’m here now. We’re all here,” he hoped his words would be enough for now. “Xion too. Sora is back at the Tower with Riku and Kairi if you want to see them. Ven would gladly do a sleepover with you.” He felt Roxas shake with laughter against his chest and felt encouraged. “And you both can go around confusing all of us like true twins if you lighten your hair a bit. You could be the mischievous lil shits you’ve always wanted to be.”

Roxas playfully glared at him. “Should we do that to you? Maybe if we share all of our dirty secrets about you we’d have enough knowledge to make you doubt if you’re with me or with _Roxas_ one day.”

Axel nodded. Then the color drained from his face as the words sunk in. _Did he just say Roxas? Why did he say Roxas? Is this Ven? “_ Wait–”

Roxas? just held him tighter and laughed against his shoulder. Yeah, no, that was definitely Roxas and Axel had just gone blank for a second. “Can’t believe you fell for it, geez Axel. I thought you had me memorized enough to pick me apart!”

“I-I do! Shut up, you’re stupid. Don’t do that to me. Stop laughing! Roxas!” Great. Now he’d gone and made a fool of himself, like he’d feared. His face felt burning hot at the shame and the laughing blond mess against his chest. Axel clicked his tongue in fake annoyance and muttered something along the lines of “having best friends for this”, which only made Roxas laugh harder. Axel wasn’t sure if he regretted his mess-up or not. He made up his mind when Roxas pulled away, his blue eyes shining and the biggest grin he’d ever seen plastered across his face.

Nope, he didn’t regret a thing.

Then Roxas turned around and pulled out two familiar plastic envelopes they both knew quite well and handed one to Axel. Giddy, he tore the plastic open and shoved the ice cream unceremoniously into his mouth. Roxas snickered at his side and Axel saw him shake his head from the corner of his eye.

“Shut up. I’m hungry.”

Roxas shrugged at Axel, still smiling but not saying anything, and both fell into a comfortable silence, staring at the sunset ahead of them.

Axel closed his eyes. Could he ask for something better? They were all safe and sound, including Isa, and right now he had Roxas by his side. They would take a long time to recover from Xehanort’s actions, but Axel vowed to himself he wouldn’t let any of his friends go alone through it. He knew Isa, Xion and Roxas would need time to themselves at some point, and himself too, and there would be bumps here and there, but he felt determined to see them all through.

No matter the distance or how long it could take; he was willing to _wait,_  to _fight_ , to go through _anything_ with his bare hands to keep them safe now that they were back with him. Xehanort had scarred them all, had ruined their lives, but they got through and damn it all if Axel wouldn’t make sure one life of hell and sacrifice was enough.

Especially Roxas’.

He would be damned if he let anything happen to Roxas. He’d set the world on fire.

“Everything okay?”

“Hm?” Axel looked up at Roxas and just like that, all the worries festering deep down vanished with a poof. _Stupid, worried, beautiful blue eyes_. He flashed Roxas an apologetic smile. His face hurt from smiling a lot lately; he still had to get used to it. “Ah, yeah, got lost in thought for a sec there. No worries.”

He saw Roxas biting his lower lip and the sudden urge to kiss him silly popped into his mind. _Well, shit._ Roxas needed to stop with that. “Sorry. Was it something I said?”

Axel blinked in confusion at his question. “Wait, what? No, why would you think that?”

“I just–” Roxas seemed to have trouble with his words, so Axel waited patiently for him to finish, just like Roxas had done with him the past few days. “Agh, I don’t know. We’ve been back for barely a couple of weeks now, but I feel like I struggle way more with the whole ‘living’ thing. Talking about how I feel and what goes through my mind. I get stuck a lot.”

Axel raised an eyebrow. “ _Living_ thing?”

Roxas clicked his tongue, taking a mouthful of his ice cream. “Yeah. It was easier when I believed I was wholly human in the datascape, but I have to come to terms that it wasn’t really _me_ , that who I am is a mix of who I grew to be in the Organization and what I felt during that Summer week. Once I remembered everything in the mansion, I was allowed to be _myself_ for a little bit, and then I just faded.”

Axel winced, catching on. He did _not_ want to think about Roxas fading, alone, thinking that his ‘whole life’ had been a lie and that Axel didn’t fight hard enough to leave the Organization with him. Even then Xion wasn’t remembered by either of them. It made Axel’s stomach twist.

He loved Roxas. He’d known for a good while. He wouldn’t let him fade, and if it came a day when Roxas had to leave, either he’d fight with all his being for him to stay, or he’d be leaving with him. _Not this time. Never again._

Axel made up his mind. It was now or never.

“I won’t let you go again.”

He heard Roxas’ sharp intake of breath, but nope, he wasn’t stopping. Screw it. It wasn’t like he’d been subtle about it, anyways. “I don’t care how much it takes you to figure yourself out, Rox. Hell, even _I’m_ a mess and I’m a few months ahead of all of you in the whole ‘being human again’ business. I don’t know and I don’t care. I waited for you to get back, I can wait for you to figure your shit out, because I have to figure my own as well, as long as you’re safe and sound. I will wait years if needed, but there’s one thing I have figured out from before I woke up. And it’s still here,” he pointed at his own chest. “As fresh as it was back then.”

He felt Roxas swallow beside him. Axel wouldn’t tear his eyes away from his own ice cream, small sea-salt drops falling below onto the station plaza. The knot in his throat prevented him from enjoying the treat anymore and Axel just wanted to be _done with it_.

“And that is…?”

“That I love you.”

_There._

“I knew that.”

_… Wait, what?_

Well, he hadn’t been exactly subtle, and Axel knew it, but he still was surprised to hear it. He whipped his head so fast to look at Roxas that he almost startled the younger man, who fidgeted with his ice cream stick. He was blushing terribly, looking at anywhere but Axel. When he spoke, he did it softly. “I mean, Ven talked to me about stuff he noticed when we were together…”

Axel groaned. “I’m going to murder him. I adore him, but I will murder his ass after having a talk with him.”

Roxas laughed at that. “Come on, he means well.”

“I never doubt his intentions, but I’ll still throw a frisbee at him the next time we meet.”

Just like that, any tension and nervousness seemed to leave them. Axel just shook his head, biting down on his ice cream again. “So you knew that I… well.”

Axel felt his stomach twist once more, feeling anxious again. So much for a break to eat.

“Yeah,” Roxas nodded. “You fumbled a lot, I noticed you blushed when talking to me, too. I’m not an expert in feelings, but I noticed something was different in you and went to talk to Ven about it. I was worried it was something else, so I didn’t want to ask you yet...”

Axel tried not to feel embarrassed, knowing he was in for a lot of teasing from Ventus. He wasn’t sure he could take it. “You sure know how to pick ‘em.”

Roxas snorted. “Hey, gimme a break. I couldn’t ask Xion since she’s the same as me, I barely know Terra and Aqua and there's no way I was going to ask Riku. Not yet...” _Ah, another issue to talk about. Maybe later on._ Axel squeezed Roxas’ shoulder gently and didn’t miss how Roxas leaned into it. “I could’ve asked Sora or Kairi, but they were still recovering from their trip after the whole battle. I thought they needed the rest more than anyone else.”

“So that only left Ven…”

“I could’ve asked Hayner, Pence and Olette, but they still haven’t seen your good side.” Roxas patted Axel’s hand and the taller man winced, remembering the way he kind of dragged a kicking Kairi into a dark corridor in front of those scared teenagers. Not his finest moment.

“Right, I didn’t leave the best of impressions the last time they saw me.”

“You have a knack for making very good first impressions, it’s natural you have an spectacular failure once in a while.”

Axel let his surprise get the better of him and blinked, stunned, his mouth making a perfect, round “o” shape. Roxas lost it, shoulders shaking with laughter under Axel’s grip. The redhead quickly grabbed his other shoulder, not caring about his ice cream or Roxas’ shirt, pulling him slightly closer to him and to the edge. Roxas squeaked as Axel smirked, tightening his grip to let him know that he was in safe hands despite the pull.

“Okay, squirt, give me one reason for me not to shove you down this tower right now.”

“Axel! I swear I will kick your sorry ass with _both my keyblades_ if I fall because of you!”

He snickered, pulling Roxas closer. “You won’t fall if I don’t want to. Now, your reason for me not to punish you for offending me.”

“Uh, you love me?”

Axel froze at the same time Roxas seemed to realize what he’d said. He looked into Roxas’ eyes, feeling his heart suddenly hammering in his chest as if ready to burst out as Roxas began to blush. Badly.

“Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to–”

They were so close he could almost count Roxas’ eyelashes, but neither of them were pulling away. This time Roxas was the one who looked like he wanted to jump off the tower, furiously red. Probably just as red as Axel was.

 _What a mess_ , Axel thought with a shaky breath. His mind was going haywire with a single plea, pulling his feelings in different directions, but yet all of them toward Roxas, _but I love you. Please, please tell me you love me as well, even if I’m even a bigger mess. I will keep you safe, and I know you will watch my back, please, Roxas, please–_

“To what?” Axel whispered.

Roxas was still stammering his way through.

“To… to… sound like I was… mocking–” He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and when he opened them, Axel saw resolve in those blue eyes that he adored so much. “Ah– fuck it.”

And with that, he wrapped his arms around a surprised Axel and kissed him. It was soft and clumsy and Axel almost dropped his ice cream as he turned his body towards Roxas and wrapped his arms around the blonde’s waist in return. He felt warm all over, blood roaring in his ears and almost felt dizzy due to the rush of finally, _finally_ kissing Roxas. But he couldn’t stop, and thankfully neither did Roxas, who cupped Axel’s face in his hands as he kept kissing him and Axel thought he could die right then and there and he’d die a happy man.

“I love you too,” Roxas breathed when he managed to pull away for a second. “I’ve missed you a lot, so don’t you dare running away on me because you have to protect me or some cliché shit, because I will drag your ass back home.”

 _Home,_   _huh?_

“Bit aggressive, aren’t we?” Axel licked his lips. “I kinda like that.”

He earned the smack to the head, but he gladly took it, laughing through it as he let Roxas kiss him again.

“Don’t you fade on me, ever again, do ya hear me, Rox?” Axel let out, feeling the familiar hot building in his eyes. No, he wasn’t going to cry, not now. “If you ever leave and come back you’re in for an earful and a fireball to your ass as well, okay?”

He felt Roxas burying his face in the crook of his neck and Axel couldn’t help but hold him as tight as he could, letting the thought of Roxas being there, with him, kissing him and telling him that he’d _loved_ him as well sink in and started to shake. He couldn’t help it. His eyes burned too much and when he felt the warm tears down his cheeks it was too late to stop them.

Roxas looked up at him, shocked at first, then frowning and lastly he wiped the tears off Axel’s face with his thumbs with a fond look on his face.

“You’re stupid, Axel,” Roxas muttered, voice trembling and Axel couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. “I’m not going anywhere anymore. I’m home.”

“Roxas–”

“Now stop crying before I start crying as well.”

Axel laughed louder, pulling Roxas’ face in for another kiss again before wiping his eyes. “I’m a mess, aren’t I?”

“A bit more since you became a Somebody, but you’re still Axel.” Roxas muttered with a sniffle.

“You missed me, admit it.”

Axel was trying to lighten up the situation, but it backfired on him when Roxas smiled sadly. “You have no idea.” Then, with a wink and raising his already licked clean stick, he added: “You and the sea-salt ice cream.”

The smile bloomed into Axel’s face naturally. Seeing the remnants of his own ice cream about to melt, he sucked on the rest and threw the stick behind them. “Is it as good as you remember?”

He felt like Donald, talking with food in his mouth, but he refused to think about that ingredient-obsessed duck at the moment.

Roxas smirked. “There’s something… it adds a different flavour to it, but it makes it better.”

Axel narrowed his eyes, curious, but caught on the moment Roxas grabbed his shoulders and kissed him again, licking his lips. Axel was sure he’d lose his mind if Roxas kept messing with him like that.

Roxas pulled away too soon for his liking, both having trouble keeping their hands off each other. “Tastes better this way.”

Axel swallowed, giving Roxas a coy smile. “Don’t let me keep you away from it, then.”

“Oh, you couldn’t put me on a diet even if you tried.”

He chuckled, thinking that of all the times he’d had ice cream up here, this one was his favourite.

He was a mess. Roxas, too, was a mess. Both were each other’s messes, but he was sure they would work it out. They had to.

And everything would be fine, as long as his friends and Roxas were by his side.

He pulled Roxas down for yet another sea-salt tasting kiss, internally agreeing with Roxas that yes, their favourite ice cream tasted way better this way.

**Author's Note:**

> Boy am I rusty. Haven't written shit in two years, mix it with English not being my main and no beta and you've got this mess. I'll still run with it though. I apologize for any mistakes.
> 
> Also Sora came back with Kairi and the Destiny trio is together because I say so and Ventus likes to tease his friends a lot. I'm keeping the canon parts that I like and boy do I have some changes for other stories. Looking at you, Vanitas.


End file.
